Updating or Installing Virtio Drivers on VMware Images

Paravirtualized (virtio) drivers enhance performance of instances running on Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) architecture, which is the standard for Metacloud Hypervisors (MHVs). Images for VMs running in Metacloud must have these drivers installed.

The drivers are automatically loaded on several versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and some versions of Linux based on the 2.6.27 kernel or later versions. See the Red Hat document KVM Paravirtualized (Virtio) Drivers for more information.

Exporting the VMware OVF Package

Export the VMware instance as an Open Virtualization Format (OVF) package, which captures the state of a virtual machine in a self-contained set of compressed files. This package includes the VMDK file, which is used later in the migration process.

The export steps vary, depending on the VMware environment. Look up the export procedure for your VMware environment in VMware Docs for more information.

Locating the VMDK file

VMDK is one of the image file types that Metacloud supports for Availability Zones (AZs) with NFS or ephemeral storage. The VMDK file, which is part of the OVF bundle, contains descriptors for the virtual disk's drive sectors, heads, cylinders, and the disk adapter type used in the VM. You need to know the location of the VMDK file so that you can use it later in the migration process.